POCATELLO — A 30-year-old Pocatello mixed martial arts fighter was arrested Tuesday on several felony charges after a woman reported a December assault that doctors say almost killed her.
Lonell Wyley Woodhouse, faces felony charges of aggravated battery, first-degree stalking and domestic violence resulting in a traumatic injury stemming from the December incident, according to police and court records the Idaho State Journal obtained Thursday. He has also been charged with distributing fentanyl in 2024 and possessing both cocaine and more than three ounces of marijuana at the time of his arrest, court records show.
The recent investigation into Woodhouse began Monday when the woman came to the Pocatello Police Department with her parents to report the December incident, according to court records.
The woman told officers that in the early hours of Dec. 13, she found Woodhouse extremely intoxicated at a bar and took him home to their residence in the university neighborhood in Pocatello, police said.
After putting him to bed, she consumed alcohol herself and discovered multiple calls on his cell phone from an unknown woman, so she began slapping Woodhouse to wake him and confront him about the calls, according to the report.
The woman told officers she remembered slapping him in the face but could not recall what happened afterward, said police, adding that the next morning, the woman discovered she had a black eye that was so swollen she could not see out of it.
The woman reviewed surveillance footage from cameras at the residence that captured the altercation, during which the woman heard herself say, “What are you gonna do, hit me?” followed by what officers said sounded like her being punched by Woodhouse and screaming, police said.
The woman avoided her family for days after the incident, but due to pain, she went to the Health West Clinic in Chubbuck and was encouraged to see a doctor at Portneuf Medical Center, the report says. A day or two after the clinic visit, the woman reported waking up in pain and tasting blood and had a relative take her to the emergency room at PMC on Dec. 18, court records show.
Medical staff determined the woman’s right orbital bone was fractured and her sinuses were filled with blood, police said. They advised her not to blow her nose, as it could dislodge her eye, and not to inhale too strongly, as that could suck her eye inward, according to the report.
Medical staff told the woman and her family that this was close to being a fatal blow, police said.
Officers around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday observed Woodhouse, a nationally and regionally ranked MMA fighter, leaving his residence in his Toyota Highlander and conducted a traffic stop in the 900 block of North 11th Avenue to take him into custody, transporting him to the Bannock County Jail in Pocatello.
When interviewed, Woodhouse stated he was “black out drunk” at the time of the incident and didn’t remember much of it, police said. He told officers he knew the woman had slapped him multiple times but could not recall striking her, according to the report.
Police also charged Woodhouse with first-degree stalking for an incident on Feb. 6 in which he allegedly engaged in conduct that seriously alarmed and harassed the woman, causing her substantial emotional distress.
This included loading and unloading a gun while telling her he was going to do something stupid, taking her belongings and cutting them up or urinating on them and sending her insulting text messages, police said.
In addition to the domestic-related charges, Woodhouse faces a felony charge for delivering fentanyl to a confidential informant on April 16, 2024. Court records show the informant identified Woodhouse and arranged to purchase fentanyl pills from him and was able to obtain 50 pills that later tested positive for fentanyl, police said.
When police served a search warrant at Woodhouse’s residence after his arrest Tuesday, officers found two bags of suspected marijuana on a table in plain view and a box under a bed containing a bag with 1.7 grams of cocaine, according to the report.
Officers later weighed all the marijuana seized from Woodhouse’s residence, which police said totaled 96.5 grams — more than three ounces — which is a felony in Idaho,
In addition to the felony charges, Woodhouse also faces a misdemeanor charge for possessing drug paraphernalia.
Woodhouse appeared before 6th District Magistrate Judge David A. Hooste for an arraignment hearing on Thursday where his bond was set at $25,000 and he was ordered to not have any contact with the victim. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 23 for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors will attempt to present sufficient evidence to elevate the case from magistrate to district court for trial.
The aggravated battery, first-degree stalking, domestic violence resulting in a traumatic injury, cocaine possession and felony marijuana possession charges Woodhouse faces collectively carry a maximum penalty of 42 years in prison and a fine of up to $95,000 if he is convicted. The distribution of fentanyl charge is punishable by up to life in prison and a $25,000 fine.